Hating Halloween

By Elizabeth Coldwell

FROM POPULAR ROMANCE AUTHOR ELIZABETH COLDWELL

Book four in the Holiday Falls series

Will she have a fresh chance of lasting love in Holiday Falls— or will her loathing of Halloween get in the way?

Looking for a fresh start after her cheating ex left her and took her life savings with him, Poppy Reed thinks Holiday Falls will be the ideal town to begin again. She' s a perfect fit for the role of assistant manager at the Maltby Farm Inn, and owner Miranda thinks so too, hiring her on the spot. What Poppy doesn' t expect is that her new home will bring her in contact with handsome bartender, Finn Gallagher.

Poppy and Finn share an instant attraction, and before she knows it, she' s in bed with him. Their sex is hotter than she' s ever known, made more exciting by Finn' s love of flirting with danger and letting Poppy take a dominant role.

Poppy begins to believe there are no limits to what they can do together— until Finn suggests a hot date at a local Halloween attraction. Poppy has hated Halloween since she was a kid, and their trip to the haunted house seems likely to ruin their romance, rather than take it to the next level.

Does their love stand the ghost of a chance, or will life in Holiday Falls be more trick than treat for Poppy?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Oct 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781802508451

Elizabeth Coldwell

Elizabeth Coldwell is a multi-published author and editor whose stories have appeared in a number of best-selling anthologies. She has written novels in a variety of different genres, from paranormal to BDSM and contemporary romance. She is the former editor of the UK edition of Forum magazine and the proud winner of an International Leather Award. When she is not busy writing, she is an avid supporter of Rotherham United Football Club and can be regularly found on the terraces at weekends, cheering her boys to victory (hopefully!).

Book preview

Totally Bound Publishing books by Elizabeth Coldwell

Single Books

Something Within Him

Neil and Obey

The Feel of Wings

Away from it All

Wagers of Sin

Everything to Him

More Than Vanilla

Night Voices

Steal Your Soul Away

Beyond His Control

Mr December

Holiday Falls

Closed for Christmas

No Reservations

Love Blossoms

Anthologies

Treble: Three-Part Harmony

Sensory Limits: Cruise Control

Collections

Christsmas Crackers: The Christmas Box

Feral: Abyssinian Heat

Mi Amore: Missing in Milan

Paramour: Maestro

Rules of Summer: Tamed in Tuscany

We Three Kings: Temporary Angel

Her Harem: Wild in the Country

A Wolf in Billionaire’s Clothing: Wolf in the City

Holiday Falls

HATING HALLOWEEN

ELIZABETH COLDWELL

Hating Halloween

ISBN # 978-1-80250-845-1

©Copyright Elizabeth Coldwell 2023

Cover Art by Erin Dameron-Hill ©Copyright October 2023

Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2023 by Totally Bound Publishing, United Kingdom.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorised copies.

Totally Bound Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Book four in the Holiday Falls series

Will she have a fresh chance of lasting love in Holiday Falls—or will her loathing of Halloween get in the way?

Looking for a fresh start after her cheating ex left her and took her life savings with him, Poppy Reed thinks Holiday Falls will be the ideal town to begin again. She’s a perfect fit for the role of assistant manager at the Maltby Farm Inn, and owner Miranda thinks so too, hiring her on the spot. What Poppy doesn’t expect is that her new home will bring her in contact with handsome bartender, Finn Gallagher.

Poppy and Finn share an instant attraction, and before she knows it, she’s in bed with him. Their sex is hotter than she’s ever known, made more exciting by Finn’s love of flirting with danger and letting Poppy take a dominant role.

Poppy begins to believe there are no limits to what they can do together—until Finn suggests a hot date at a local Halloween attraction. Poppy has hated Halloween since she was a kid, and their trip to the haunted house seems likely to ruin their romance, rather than take it to the next level.

Does their love stand the ghost of a chance, or will life in Holiday Falls be more trick than treat for Poppy?

Dedication

For Fi, my fellow Wistow Witch.

Happy Halloween!

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Chevy: General Motors

Keurig: Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.

Aerosmith: Epic Rights, Inc.

Four Seasons: Four Seasons Hotels Limited

Boston Red Sox: Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.

Facebook: Meta

Instagram: Instagram from Meta

Netflix: Netflix, Inc.

Reader’s Digest: Trusted Media Brands, Inc.

Jell-O: Kraft Heinz

Waldo: Martin Handford/Candlewick Press

Monster Mash: Bobby Pickett/Leonard Capizzi

Fred and Wilma Flintstone: Hanna-Barbera Productions

Chapter One

I don’t think I’m going to make the interview on time…

Poppy peered out through the windshield at the driving rain. It hadn’t stopped falling for the past couple of hours and still showed no sign of letting up. The wipers squeaked and dragged as they did their best to clear away the steady stream of water.

She did her best to ignore the unpleasant popping sound coming from beneath the hood, as well as the indicator on the fuel gauge, which had slipped dangerously close to empty somewhere over the last ten miles.

It would have been more sensible to leave home yesterday, rather than getting up just before dawn to make the eight-hour drive from Pittsburgh to this little town in the heart of Massachusetts. But that would have involved an overnight stay somewhere, and Poppy couldn’t afford the expense right now, just like she couldn’t afford to get the Chevy’s engine looked at or the gas tank filled.

She cursed Bradley under her breath, as she had done so many times since he’d walked out on her. As if it weren’t bad enough that he’d left her for his PA, Jaime, when he’d gone, he’d cleared out their joint account, landing Poppy with a stack of bills and an irate landlord demanding two months in unpaid rent. Sorting those commitments had all but emptied out her meager savings.

Now all she wanted to do was forget about Bradley and his cheating, consign all his lies and excuses to history and make a fresh start as far from her old life as she could. Though, when she’d answered the job advert for an assistant to help run the Maltby Farm bed and breakfast inn in Holiday Falls, she hadn’t realized quite the distance she’d have to travel to get there.

The engine sputtered again, and Poppy’s stomach churned.

Please don’t die on me. Not now.

It would be just her luck if the car finally broke down, on top of everything else that had happened since she’d found out Bradley was cheating on her. But according to her map, the inn was less than half a mile down the road. If she had to, she could abandon the vehicle and complete her journey on foot. She pictured herself running down the muddy track, arriving at her interview soaking wet and bedraggled. It wouldn’t be the ideal first impression, not when she needed this job so badly. She issued a silent prayer to whoever watched over her, asking for the car to hold on long enough for her to reach her destination.

She rounded a bend in the road and spotted the sign that marked the entrance to the inn, its name picked out in neat black capital letters surrounding a stylized image of a bunch of red roses. Poppy hit the turn signal, and for the first time since the rain had started to fall, the ghost of a smile crept across her lips.

Maybe things are going to turn out okay after all.

She brought the car to a halt in front of the white-painted building with its neat front porch. A wreath of black and orange ribbons attached to the door gave her pause for a moment.

Oh Lord, don’t tell me they’ve started celebrating Halloween already here. All that tacky nonsense seems to start earlier every year, and I just know everyone will expect me to join in. But if that happens, they’re going to be disappointed…

Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she dared to risk a peek at the time display on the screen of her phone and realized she’d made her appointment with five minutes to spare.

Talk about cutting it fine.

Still, it gave her a few moments to check her reflection in the driver’s mirror, run a brush through her light-brown hair and apply a fresh coat of dark-pink lipstick. Her hazel eyes smiled back at her as she worked to project a confidence she didn’t feel. Telling herself not to worry, she had this in the bag—a trick her dad had taught her before she went for her first ever job interview—she grabbed her purse from the backseat of the Chevy, made double sure it contained her resume, slipped into her winter jacket then dashed for the shelter of the inn.

As she waited for her knock on the door to be answered, she glanced around, admiring the tubs of dark-red and purple dahlias on the porch. Everything here looked as if it were well cared for, giving a warm and inviting welcome to guests. The notion was reinforced by the woman who opened the front door.

Somewhere in her early forties, she had faint lines at the corners of her eyes that deepened when she smiled, and her blonde hair was twisted up in a practical knot and secured with pins. She wiped her hands on a blue-and-white striped apron, and Poppy couldn’t help noticing a faint smudge of flour on her cheek.

You must be Poppy, right on time. I’m Miranda. Please come in.

Thank you. Poppy walked inside to be greeted by the inviting scent of vanilla and warm sugar. Mm, something smells good.

Oh, you caught me making a batch of orange-cranberry muffins ready for tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

Do you do a lot of cooking for your guests? Poppy realized her mistake the moment the question was out of her mouth. I mean, I know you provide breakfast for them, but I thought it would involve mostly eggs, toast, that kind of thing.

Well, I offer what I like to call the full Massachusetts breakfast—bacon, sausage, home-fried potatoes—and vegetarian options, too, but if you ask me, there’s nothing nicer than a homemade muffin to accompany a good cup of coffee. Speaking of which, can I get you something to drink?

Coffee would be amazing, thank you. She’d stopped at a diner somewhere on the outskirts of Scranton and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich—the cheapest item she could find on the lunch menu—but that had been hours ago. Poppy hoped Miranda didn’t hear the rumbling in her stomach as she followed her through to the guest lounge.

If you’d like to wait here, I’ll go get a cup for you and then we can make a start on the interview. Cream and sugar?

Just cream, please.

Poppy made a slow circuit of